Kamakura was already one of my favorite places to visit in Japan. It’s such a short distance from Tokyo, about a hour by train, an offers great sites. Not only does it feature the Great Buddha Statue–a must see–but countless other beautiful temples. Kamakura’s shopping streets also have a fun atmosphere. On top of that, there are beaches! I feel in love with Kamakura even more during our last visit this month. The reason? This restaurant by the ocean: Magokoro.

Magokoro is Organic and Hemp Cafe and Bar. Though I would also classify it as a restaurant and a little storefront. While not fully vegan (perhaps its only downside), Magokoro serves a two fully vegan lunch sets as well as other vegan menu items.

If you are not comfortable speaking Japanese, no problem! They have a fully English menu. I also found that our two waitresses spoke a tiny bit of English, ensuring us that our choices were fully vegan. Awesome! Here are pictures of the English menu:

Unfortunately they were out of the Hemp Curry Plate (1180 yen), so George and I both got the Vegan Plate of the Day (1280 yen). The day we went the set was Vegan Bibimbap! It was absolutely delicious. As you can see from the pictures below, the lunch set contains 5 dishes/bowls of veggie goodness. The main dish, the Bibimbap was perfect. Topped with roasted hemp seed, mushrooms, various picked vegetables, and cut nori, the flavor was savory went perfectly with rice. I topped my dish off with spicy chili-hemp oil. Of course if you don’t like spicy food, you can skip this. The next little dish was a soft tofu topped with Magokoro’s vegan version of kimchi. A bit hard to eat with chopsticks, but very tasty! There is also a small salad topped with hemp seeds. To finish off the set was a seaweed and hemp soup and a tiny plate of two pickled vegetables. The soup had a light flavor, and the seaweed taste wasn’t overpowering.

To finish off the meal, I had to get dessert! Magokoro has a selection of vegan cakes, soy yogurt parfaits, and also hemp and soy gelato. Impressive! Since it was warm that day, I went for a chocolate hemp gelato! It did not disappoint. It wasn’t overly sweet, and the hemp seed topping added a nice texture.

All the food was very delicious and well worth the trip. We went right at noon, and we had to wait outside for about 20 minutes. It wasn’t too bad. We got there right at the right time, because while we were seated, the line grew 4x longer. Because they were so busy, the service was a bit slow. However, the wait was made more bearable by the gorgeous view.

Magokoro sits right in front of the ocean. It has a fantastic view of the beach. It was fun watching people in the water, and it just really added to the atmosphere. I also want to mention that by the entrance they sell various products made of hemp, such as clothes and bags. Very cool!

I highly recommend coming here while you are in Kamakura. Just be sure to mention that you are vegan, and the server will help guide you through the menu. You will not be disappointed!